1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to online marketing, advertising, and web functionality. The invention relates more specifically to conversion marketing, namely the science of measuring, testing, and improving the rate at which website visitors respond to website content with a predefined action or actions, including, but not limited to, clicking a link, filling out a web page form, putting an item in a shopping basket, subscribing to a newsletter, or purchasing a product.
2. Description of Prior Art
The greatest challenge for today's website operators is maximizing conversion rates—the number of visitors who make a purchase, register for a new account, sign up for a newsletter, submit a sales lead, adopt a website feature, etc. A website's conversion rate is a measure of how successfully the website persuades visitors to move toward making a conversion.
The conversion process is normally comprised of numerous pages and links. The content on each page (including the text headings of each link) must compel the visitor forward through the site. While a few visitors quickly move forward through a site, the majority of visitors never click to a second page on the average site. Of the few that do click to a second page, only a small percent follow through with any conversion action on the site.
To optimize web conversions, the website operator must figure out how best to speak to the site's visitors, in a way that they understand, telling them what they need to know at each point in the conversion process. Specifically, the website operator needs to test variations of website content (including, but not limited to, product descriptions, headlines, calls to action, assurance messages, images, and words that aid site navigation and usability) and determine which are most persuasive to the visitor.
There have been several attempts at optimizing web conversions using variation testing. One model for such testing is a remote content server model. In such a model, a request from a visitor's web browser is sent directly to a website. The website responds with customized content that includes JavaScript code. The JavaScript code subsequently contacts a remote server of the optimization tool vendor. The web browser executes the JavaScript and requests variable web page content from a remote server. Then the remote server processes the web browser's JavaScript request, sending the web browser content variations and tracking the visitor's session, typically using a cookie. The web browser inserts the content variations into the web page to complete rendering.
While the remote content server model provides a relatively simple way to introduce variations into multiple regions on the same page, the model suffers from a number of disadvantages:
1) The website operator must modify a target server's website pages to include the JavaScript code.
2) The web browser must have JavaScript enabled.
3) The web browser may have to make multiple HTTP connections to the remote server, which slows overall page load time.
4) This model cannot track or modify non-HTML content, such as “.TXT,” “.XML,” “.EXE,” or “.PDF” files since JavaScript is not executed for those document types.
5) Since the page is not fully rendered until processed by the end-user's browser, the content that the user sees cannot be recorded for auditing or analysis purposes (which is done by products such as Tealeaf so that the operator's technical staff can investigate problems reported by end users).
6) The model can typically only insert static content into a page (whether the encompassing page itself is statically or dynamically generated). This prevents testing variations of the dynamic content itself, such as the formatting of a catalog page or search engine results.
Another model for testing variations is a remote redirection server model. In this model, a visitor clicks on a static link (HREF) for a website, and the web browser makes a request to a redirect server or redirect page. The redirect server responds with an HTTP “Location” redirect to a link on the target website. The redirect server also tracks a visitor's session, typically using a cookie. The web browser accepts the redirect and automatically requests a new URL from the website. The website then responds with content variations.
The remote redirection server model improves on the remote content server model in that it does not require JavaScript in the web browser. Although the remote redirection server model is able to track clicks and provide variations of any type of content, the model suffers from a number of disadvantages:
1) A website operator must physically create new variations of pages, and must re-code links wherever the resulting page may require a variation.
2) The web browser has to make two requests for a test page (one to the redirect server, and a second for the redirect to the website), which slows overall page load time.
3) Page content cannot be dynamically altered by the testing product.
4) Links may display the URL of the redirect server instead of that of the website.
5) The web browser may display a warning when redirecting from HTTPS to HTTP sites (or vice versa).
Another model for testing variations is an integrated module model. In this model, a visitor's web browser requests content directly from a target website. The target website server is integrated with a marketing optimization module so that the visitor's request is handled within the same system. The integrated marketing module instructs the website how to render content, track actions, and so forth. The website server returns content variations directly to the web browser.
The integrated model uses the website platform's own session management facility and thus can avoid using additional cookies and JavaScript. By integrating the marketing module with the website platform, there are relatively fewer time delays, more content variation options within the same page, and the model can track clicks and provide variations of any type of content. The integrated model, however, suffers from a number of drawbacks:
1) Installing an integrated model is complex, expensive, and time consuming to the website operator.
2) The website operator must reconfigure the website architecture to be compatible with the marketing vendor's integrated module.
3) The integrated module cannot manage marketing tests that span heterogeneous servers. For example, if a website operator runs a vendor's integrated module on a first subdomain (e.g. www1.example.com), but not on a second subdomain of the website (e.g. www2.example.com), then only the first subdomain can use the marketing test module, even though the two systems may host the website jointly.
There are also a number of patents and patent applications that attempt to optimize web conversions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,125 “Process For Optimizing The Effectiveness Of A Hypertext Element” (Garrick et al. Oct. 19, 1999) discloses a process for determining the effectiveness of a web page to a visitor by creating alternative and test web pages, sending requests to the test web page, and monitoring the use of the web page and the rate that the web page objective was met and replacing pages with the page most visited.
U.S. Patent Application 20020042738 “Method And Apparatus For Determining The Effectiveness Of Internet Advertising” (Srinivasan et al. Apr. 11, 2002) discloses a method and system for measuring the effectiveness of the layout or appearance of a website advertisement to a visitor wherein different visitors are shown different formats of the same page and response to the page is monitored and statistics are analyzed regarding the responses.
U.S. Patent Application 20030014304 “Method Of Analyzing Internet Advertising Effects” (Calvert et al. Jan. 16, 2003) discloses a method of evaluating Internet advertisement effectiveness that involves collecting Internet activity information associated with a multitude of cookies.
U.S. Patent Application 20030018501 “Adaptive Testing For Conversion-Related Estimates Relevant To A Network Accessible Site” (Shan Jan. 23, 2003) discloses a method and system for processing test data relevant to specific behavior of visitors of a website.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,215 “System And Method For Content Optimization” (Moskowitz et al. Dec. 9, 2003) discloses a system and method for determining appropriate website content for consumers comprising a server arrangement, including a “real time content optimization” server, a user computer, and a network, wherein upon request a web page is generated for the user having static and dynamic elements which are tested for user reaction and response.
U.S. Patent Application 20040030597 “Method And System Of Optimizing The Response And Profitability Of A Marketing Program” (Bibas Feb. 12, 2004) discloses a method and system for tracking a consumer's behavior on a website, dynamically changing an advertisement or sales page, and testing a sales page to a subset of the marketing program to optimize the content of the page.
U.S. Patent Application 20040123247 “Method and apparatus for dynamically altering electronic content” (Wachen, Mark et al. Jun. 24, 2004) discloses “[a] method and apparatus for altering electronic content includes a template for assigning variables and values to a section of the content, a generator that creates the permutations of the content, a transmitter that provides the content to a requestor and a evaluator and optimizer that aids in selecting the most optimal permutation of the content.”
While the prior art discloses attempts to improve online marketing, none of the web conversion optimization models provides a method of introducing page variations on existing website content without needing to make modifications to existing, back-end, content on the target server. What is needed, therefore is
1) a product that does not require modifications to a target server,
2) a product that does not require web browsers to run JavaScript or accept cookies, and
3) a product that can track visitor actions on any type of request and introduce variations on both statically- and dynamically-generated HTML and non-HTML content.